Today, I'll tell you about a person. Marie had been going to Comstock the same years I had, but she always went to second session and I went to third. But now, here we were both at second session. Here she is with her tent mate (Judy somebody). She's the one in front.
If she were here to tell the story, she'd explain that she was afraid of me for the first 3 days. I had a green jacket that had been my grandmother's. For some reason, she thought this made me look intimidating. Truth be told, I spent almost every minute that there wasn't some chore to be done sitting up in a tree, because I had no social skills at all.
But somehow, we must have started talking. Our family's dynamics were similar. We had the same bony narrow feet, five sizes apart. This may seem like an odd basis for a friendship, but other people simply didn't understand the things our feet would (will) not tolerate. We had strong similarities in our worldview, although that wasn't what it was called back then.
She gave me my nickname, Sharkey, although we are NOT explaining why. And she has refused to use it ever since that first year.
Here is our Pioneer Unit picture. Marie is standing far left and I am squatting far left in front of her.
You know how many junior-high friendships survive, right? But ours did. We lived 60 miles apart, which might as well have been the other side of the moon back then. We were seniors in high school before our parents let us visit each other's homes. I was from the northernmost village in the Council, and she was from the southernmost. We actually wrote letters to each other. (Now the thought of using snail mail can send either of us into a spasm.)
Here we are in about 2008.
And here we are just a few months ago.
The whole phrase, "Best Friends Forever," the BFF, sounds so adolescent. But I think by now, this has proven to be true for us. And now you know how long we've been friends. Usually, when people ask, Marie just rolls her eyes and says, "Longer than you've been alive."
In other news: I did something on most of my current projects, but I spent a lot of time on two of them, so it wasn't very balanced. But I got a lot done.
 | See Pioneer-Primitive Unit |
4 comments:
You don't see many friendships last like that. Awesome
You bring back so many memories to me! I went to Camp Comstock, I think in 1961 and 1962!
I want to wake up in the morning at dear old Camp Comstock,
Where the sun comes peeping into where I'm sleeping and the song birds sing hello,
I want to roam down the mountain where the wild blackberries grow
I'm going back to Scout camp to the place we all love so!
I went to Camp Bailiwick for two years before heading to Comstock. I loved it there!
Lulu: "I asked Dada and you have indeed been friends longer than he's been alive! Quite remarkable! Also, what are these 'letters' of which you speak ... ?"
Ann- we know it's something special
Unknown- who are you? But I was in Pioneer from 1960 on except for one year on a canoe trip, so I didn't get to know many campers from other units.
Lulu- totally scary. They are hand written, like pee-mail, but then wrapped in paper and put in the box on which the writer peed.
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